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Description

This book examines behavioral adaptations of tropical birds in timing of breeding, life history traits, mating systems and parental care, territoriality, communication, and biotic interactions, and emphasizes the many gaps in our knowledge of tropical birds. We urge students and researchers in temperate and tropical regions alike to realize the potential they have for improving our knowledge of avian adaptations far beyond what is currently accepted as gospel. Time is running out.

Readership

Professional ornithologists, conservation biologists, researchers in tropical bird ecology, and students in tropical bird ecology. May also be of interest to amateur bird enthusiasts and visitors to tropics.

Bridget Stutchbury

Bridget Stutchbury is an Associate Professor of Biology at York University in Toronto, Canada. She has conducted research on migrant songbird ecology in Mexico, and mating systems of resident passerines in Panama. In addition, she has published numerous papers on the behavioral ecology of temperate bird zones.

Affiliations and Expertise

Smithsonian Institute

Recent Publication

Eugene Morton

Eugene Morton is a Senior Scientist at the Conservation and Research Center of the National Zoological Park, Smithsonian Institution. He has written several books on avian communication. He has studied tropical birds since 1964, chiefly in Panama, but also in Mexico, Cuba, and Venezuela. His tropical research has focussed on frugivory, vocal communication and the winter ecology of migrants. Both have worked extensively on both migratory birds and resident tropical birds, giving them a unique perspective on the evolution of the bird behavior.

Quotes and reviews

"This original and valuable book will help to broaden the understanding of avian ecology throughout the world."@source:— D. Flaspohler, Michigan Technical University, in CHOICE (January 2002)@qu:"This is a stimulating book and a rich source of research ideas written at a level suitable for undergraduates..."@source:—-Jeremy Lindsell in IBIS (2001)@qu:"The principal strength of this book is the authors' breadth of experience, which provides credibility to their claims. ...I recommend Behavioral Ecology of Tropical Birds to budding behavioral ecologists who are on the prowl for research topics that may alter the directions of the field, and to ecologists in the temperate zone who wonder why their colleagues go to the bother and expense of mounting behavioral research projects in the tropics."@source:—-Tom A. Langen, Clarkson University, in ECOLOGY (November 2001)